Changing Table

After the arrival of the Kreg jig I asked Santa for, I decided to proceed with the changing table which I had planned to build for our upcoming arrival. It took me drastically less time with the jig and hid all the screws. A total of 6 hours and $20 of lumber yielded the changing table that we wanted that converted to a desk after the child has grown.I had to make a small adjustment and added a front rail to hold the pad on. Anyway, in a few years you remove the front rail and bottom left rail and it becomes a student desk.

Here is the finished product.

Comment Box

I was approached by someone at work to construct a comment box. This was a quicky but here it is. It is unsanded in the pictures.

Sick of Sawdust??? Have a laundry bag? Great!

I was beginning to become tired of the massive 20 pound pile of sawdust that accumulates under the table saw. My shoes were always dusty and I tracked it all over.

I decided to build a dust collector but had planned on using some sort of fabric to act as the bag.I whipped together a quick frame and I found a waterproof laundry bag that I never used and cut it apart. With a little sewing and reformulation in the shape department and a few staples we have a slanted bottom dust collector which i can now drop down on hinges and suck out the sawdust with the shop vac. Less Clean up and More HAPPY!

Small projects for small hands

I love tiny things! LOL Anything that is smaller than normal size and I am into it. in this post i will show off some of my "smaller" successes. About a year ago i started a dollhouse.... a year later I am still picking away at it.

After I started the dollhouse I made a tiny bench:

When i got my drill press I also got a circle cutter.... That is a time saver and a half.

Being able to cut perfect circles led to some great wooden wheels for a car that i have started.

After i saw how easy the wheels were I decided that I would contribute to my wooden food pile i have been making from scraps in preparation for the wooden play kitchen. Care for a burger or donut? Maybe a poorly made Croissant???

Automata

I found a huge section of woodworking books at the local library (what a surprise!). I've decided to share one that I thought was especially fun:

This book is a great amount of fun and a good starting point for someone like me who aspires to make things out of wood that do more than sit there and look pretty. This book is jam packed with wooden workings, gears, cams and all sorts of fun concepts and toys that can bring life to your stuff. I have a play kitchen in my future and am especially interested in ways I can make it really fun.

The project plans in this book lead you to building a gearbox and sample set of just about every working to attach to it (mine are less colorful and pretty than theirs). I think thats a great idea and a way to keep those items around in your shop so you don't foget how to do it. it also gives you the opportunity to mess around with those pieces and come up with creative new uses for them.

If you have any desire to ever work on a wooden clock, This is a great starting point!

Two projects from awhile back

So I thought I would share two projects that I completed awhile ago.

My wife told me that her sister wanted something special for Christmas to store baby food. After making a call while in Wal-mart to decide which size baby food jar it needed to house (since they somehow got away from the regular size ones), I purchased a jar and took it home to start the project. After the shop shelves i felt pretty comfortable throwing together a quick cabinet to hang on the wall so it was really a breeze. The only real difference between the shop cabinet and this was the door and close shelves. Total project time was under 1 hour. The result was pretty good. Take a look.

This cabinet holds 24-25 Stage 3 baby food jars and makes a great gift to a new mother!

My other totally impressive a cool project was this design by Popular Mechanics ( I think) for a library chair. This guy was a long 6 hour project, but that was before I had a good setup in the shop. We have some high cabinets and its the perfect thing to have around the house.
The whole thing cost around $15

The chair back flips over the front to turn into the step ladder.

Shop Shelves: A closer look

I have had a few e-mail questions about the shelves in my shop. Folks have noticed that the bottom of each is unique. Well let's take a closer look:
The first shelf I built was to hold my driver. I always forget to charge the damn thing. With the shelf i have trained myself to look and charge every time I leave the shop. I also drilled a few holes to hold bits that I use regularly including my countersink, so that when I am assembling and holding something together I can reach for it easily. The other shelve are meant for screws and such but I have not gotten my smaller bins yet. The shelf also houses a surge strip for any hand tools i happen to be using just under the drill shelf.
The second shelf i customized to hold all of my Dremel bits. I hang my Dremel right next to it and use the flex-shaft to work with. It's nice to be able to reach out and pull out a bit for a fast switch.

Outside of that these shelves are 1x4 stock lust boxed out with a 1/4 inch channel cut with a dado blade down the interior of the sides and crosscuts for the shelves. I used 1/4 inch MDF for the shelves and back.

Hallway Table/ Key Catcher

This is a quick weekend project and for me it came in just under $10 for the whole deal unfinished. i never have anywhere to put my keys etc. when coming in and out of the house. I decided I'd try a little handy router work and whip up something reasonably pretty to do just that.

This guy is constructed for one 1x4 ripped in half lengthwise on the table saw and a short section of 1x6 and a 2'x2' scrap of 1/4 inch ply. I routed the top edges of the bottom runners, the bottom of the drawer sections, the drawer face and the edges of the top with a 1/2" quarter-round with bead bit.